Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-09-02

Speeu. Ills uaIn, however, was al uu-
sound animal. Hon. Epaphras Seymour,
former resident of Brattleboro, VT,
who was deeply interested in good horses |
and spent much time in obtaining the |
history of the early Morgan stock, gives
the following account of Sherman Nor
gan's dam in a letter to Hon. F. Holbrook
Of Vermont, published in Linsley's work
on the Morgan Horse: "Matthew Allen
Of Guidhall, VT, now seventy years old
or over, informs me that James Sherman
and himself came from Rhode Island to
st. Johnsbury, VT, in 1893. Before they
left, Mr.. John Brown of Providence gave
Mr.. Sherman an imported English mare
of great beauty, a fine saddle mare and so
used by his daughter. (She was then
spavined.) She was a mahogany brown,
154 hands high, delicate make" Other
writers give her color as dark chestnut
and she would probably be classed as
such today. 1t is evident, however, that
she was unsound from spawn. Sherman
Morgan's most noted son, Vermont Black
Hawk, was bred to a half-hipped, spav-
ined, but resolute gray mare, that after
coming to maturity was once sold for
two bushels of corn, and the result was
the elegant trotting stallion Ethan Allen.
Clara, the dam of Dexter, the first trot-
ter to mark 2 ia to harness, was disfg-
ured in similar manner as the dam of
Ethan Allen, yet her memory will ever
be kept green by the performances of her
descendants upon the turf No other
stallion has yet produced such trio of
trotters as Jay-Eye-See GAO, Phallas
(2:13G and Director (2:1O, all by Die
tator, a son of this little crippled daugh-
ter of Seely's American Star. lie Turf,
Field and Farm not long since published
the following interesting account of this
wonderful animal:
"Looking at the portrait of Clara,
which hangs in our office, Mr.. Jonathan
Hawkins said few days ago: 'The pro-
duce of that mare trot because she was
bred for harness speed. She was not a
lucky accident. The McKinstry Mare
was strongly-built and robust-looking
brown, with four white feet and standing
1913. She had a good head, but was
little bit highstrung. She was very par
ticular in the stable about soiling her
bedding, and she would not permit a
stranger to catch her when out at pas
ture. She was a hardy mare, with ex-
cellent action, and she died at the age of
thirty.
"'In 1853 she was bred to Rysdyk' 5
Hambletonian, when that horse stood at
S25, and the bay gelding Shark was
dropped in the spring of 1854. Shark
had the form and temperament of his
mother, and when he acquired strength
he was compelled to do farm work.
Frequently he was hitched double to
heavy wagon and sent over the noun
tains to help draw load of shingles.
He was quite daisy to buggy, and
drove him a mile in better than 40. He
was eight years old when Mr.. Jacks got
him, and in July, 1866, as you know, he
trotted a mile on the Fashion Course
under saddle in 2:27a Had he been ham
died for speed as we handle horses now,
from colthood up, think he would have
made record of 2 20.
"'In 1917 the McKinstry Mare was
bred to Seely's American Star, and the
following spring black filly, now
known as Clara, was dropped. Wnen
she was four years old Clara was broken,
and drove her to and from the school
house at Montgomery. l was seventeen
years old and tried to own the road. The
mare was game, and she could outfoot
nearly everything that tackled her.
When she was year and a half old she
attempted to follow another colt over
the bars while running for the stable to
get out of a storm, and tripped and fell
heavily, knocking one hip down. This
made her go little sidewise. Still, she
was a great road mare and | got deal
of pleasure out of her. | used to drive
her double with Shark, and she could
hold him level.
"'When she was carrying Dexter
drove her around Stony Ford track in
2: rs, and had she been trained strictly
for speed | am sure she would have trot-
ted mile in 2 rs. She would let an
other horse get even with her, then hold
him as if in a wise. and finally draw
away from him. She was full of cour-
age and stood up to great deal of work.
How about her SPAWN p we asked.
oh, she got that in the heavy and sticky
mud between Stony Ford and Goshen.
"'In the Spring of 1857 | bred her to
Rysdyk's Hambletonian, whose fee was
S35, and in 1858 bay colt was dropped,
which sold unbroken at four years old
for S400. That was considered a good
price in those days. This colt did not
show much harness action until he was
past one year old. The first time | ever